Engadget : Business, Crypto, Politics

Donald Trump has picked a crypto bull to advise him on AI and cryptocurrency policy. On Thursday evening, the president-elect took to Truth Social to share that he was appointing former PayPal COO David Sacks to serve as his “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Trump said Sacks would also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.

Engadget : Business

Google has delivered a surprise holiday gift to folks with a Pixel 6, Pixel 7 or Pixel Fold. The company says it will give those devices two extra years of OS upgrades.

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Riot just announced a trading card game (TCG) based on League of Legends. It’s called Project K and looks like a whole lot of fun. The cards look exquisitely-drawn and pull from IPs throughout the wider LoL universe, including the Netflix hit Arcane.

Engadget : Business, Sports, Style

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rear-view mirror, but some of the better deals from the onslaught of sales are still available.

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Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rearview mirror, but you can still find great deals this holiday season.

Engadget : Style

Google Photos just unveiled a yearly recap feature, which is a play on stuff like Spotify Wrapped and PlayStation Wrap-Up. This is a highlight reel of notable photos culled from the entire year, along with “fun graphics and cinematic effects.” I can’t wait to see snazzed-up photos of my cats.

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As part of a deal it struck with Microsoft last year, iFixit has started selling genuine Xbox parts and offering repair guides, according to changes on its Microsoft Repair Hub spotted by The Verge.

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Last week, Brazil's antitrust regulator CADE ordered Apple to allow users to download apps and make purchases from outside its App Store, with a 20-day deadline and fines for not complying. Now, a Brazilian federal court has overturned that injunction, ruling that it was "disproportionate and unnecessary," 9to5Mac reported. 

Engadget : Style

Google DeepMind has just revealed Genie 2, a world-modelling AI capable of creating 3D worlds and sustaining those environments for significantly longer. Genie 2 isn’t a game engine. It’s a diffusion model that generates images as the player (either a human being or another AI agent) moves through the world the software is simulating. All it needs to start is a single image prompt either generated by AI or from a real-world photo.

Engadget : Style, Technology

Let’s be honest: shopping for a gaming monitor can feel like wading through mud. As soon as you decide to buy a display for gaming instead of regular productivity use, a whole host of new considerations come into the equation. Should you go for an LCD or OLED monitor? What about the differences between NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync? How about refresh rates?